HOME MAINTENANCE ::: FALL CHECKLIST
Now is the time to prepare your house for the upcoming winter season. Here are some suggestions:
Have the furnace or heating system serviced by a qualified service company every two years for a gas furnace, or every year for an oil furnace
Turn on the gas furnace pilot light
Cover the outside of air conditioning units
Check and clean or replace the furnace air filter
Vacuum electric baseboard heaters to remove dust; remove the grills on forced air systems to vacuum inside the ducts
Replace window screens with storm windows
Ensure doors, windows and skylights close tightly
Clean leaves from eaves troughs and roof
Check chimney for obstructions
Winterize landscaping
Drain and store outdoor hoses
Tips for Raising your Credit Score are as follows:
- Pay your bills on time.
- If you have missed payments, get current and stay current.
- Keep balances low on credit cards and other revolving credit.
- Pay off debt rather than moving it around.
- If carrying a balance month over month, try to keep balance to 75% of total available credit.
- Don’t close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to raise your score.
- Don’t open a number of new credit cards that you don’t need, just to increase your available credit.
- Limit the amount of credit inquiries on your bureau.
- Check your credit score on annual basis to ensure all information is up to date and correct.
Credit Score Breakdown:
- 35% of your credit score is based on your payment history. The first thing any lender would want to know is whether you have paid past credit accounts on time. This is the most important factor in a credit score.
- 30% of your credit score is based on your balance(s) owing. Having credit accounts and owing money on them does not mean you are a high-risk borrower. However, owing a great deal of money on many accounts can indicate that a person is overextended, and is more likely to make some payments late or not at all.
- 15% of your credit score is based on the length of your credit history. In general, a longer credit history will increase your score. However, even people who have not been using credit long may get high scores, depending on how the rest of the credit report looks.
- 10% of your credit score is based on the amount of new credit obtained. Research shows that opening several credit accounts in a short period of time does represent greater risk, especially for people who do not have a long established credit history.
- 10% of your credit score is based on the types of credit in use. The score will consider our mix of credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts and mortgage loans. It is not necessary to have one of each and it is not a good idea to open credit accounts you don’t intend to use.
